Copy of handout photo from FBI of fugitive Alfonso Diaz-Juarez, aka "Poncho" shown during media conference at FBI Houston Headquarters, 1 Justice Park Drive, Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, in Houston. The multi-agency media conference was held to announce multiple federal arrests, and to seek public assistance in the ongoing investigation of an international sex-trafficking ring in which 14 have been charged. Twelve victims were recovered including five minors. ( Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle ) less

Another defendant - Alfonso Diaz-Juarez aka Ponco or El Grenas, a 45-year-old Mexican national - is a fugitive and a warrant remains outstanding for his arrest. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI at 713-693-5000. less

Another defendant - Alfonso Diaz-Juarez aka Ponco or El Grenas, a 45-year-old Mexican national - is a fugitive and a warrant remains outstanding for his arrest. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is ... more

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Alfonso Diaz-Juarez aka Ponco or El Grenas, a 45-year-old Mexican national — is a fugitive and a warrant remains outstanding for his arrest. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI at 713-693-5000. A Clear Channel Outdoor digital billboard campaign launched in December across the Greater Houston area touted an up to $50,000 reward for information leading to the location and arrest of Diaz-Juarez. less

Alfonso Diaz-Juarez aka Ponco or El Grenas, a 45-year-old Mexican national — is a fugitive and a warrant remains outstanding for his arrest. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to contact ... more

Photo: Patterson, Dustin

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Alleged sex trafficking fugitive wanted by FBI in cantina case

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It's been four years, but the FBI still wants to arrest an allegedly violent pimp who's a wanted fugitive for aiding a sex trafficking ring that amassed millions by brutally forcing women and girls to sell themselves in Houston cantinas.

The madam who ran the gritty establishment, Hortencia Medeles-Arguello aka Raquel Medeles Garcia, or "Tencha," is now serving a life sentence and 13 other defendants have been convicted for aiding the operation, but Alfonso "Poncho" or "El Grenas" Diaz-Juarez--who is believed to be one of the most violent members of the crew--has eluded arrest.

Federal agents are offering $50,000 for information that leads to his capture.

"I don't believe he's in the United States," said Alfred T. Tribble Jr., an FBI supervisor who oversees the human trafficking unit for the Houston area. "It's going to take an international law enforcement effort to capture this individual."

Diaz-Juarez has ties to Mexico, Texas and Florida, officials said. He is a Mexican national.

Diaz-Juarez is being sought for conspiring with other to commit sex trafficking and harbor undocumented immigrants.

He was indicted in October 2013, Diaz-Juarez, a Mexican national, was indicted with 13 other co-conspirators for running an international sex-trafficking organization.

The sex-trafficking scheme he is alleged to have helped ran from 1999 through 2013. Women and girls were brought to the cantina brothels with the help of "padrotes," or pimps. The victims were forced or coerced to performing commercial sex acts in a warren of locked back rooms

Diaz-Juarez is accused of using force or violence to punish and control these young women prostituted in the Houston area and harboring undocumented immigrants.

Federal agents issued a warrant for his arrest on Oct. 10, 2013. But six months before then, in April 2013, he was released from Harris County Jail after a conviction for a similar crime.

He had been serving time for compelling prostitution - a state crime associated with human trafficking. A criminal complaint from 2010 alleged he'd repeatedly threatened and beaten his victim, even while she was pregnant, and held her infant son hostage to force her to sell herself in a cantina for nearly two years.

"The defendant forced her to prostitute herself at La Costenita Bar until she was 5 to 6 months pregnant (June/July 2008). She then was returned to the bar in March of 2009 by the defendant and forced to prostitute herself under the same threats of bodily injury, actual physical violence and the holding of her infant son until she returned with the monies that she obtained," the criminal complaint says.

In January 2013, Diaz-Juarez was sentenced to one year in the Harris County case. He got a plea deal and that offense was reduced to a misdemeanor. By April of that year, he was released from jail.